Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

ToledoRailfan wrote:I wonder how loud the siren was and how far away it could be heard. I can't imagine it would be as loud as a tornado siren.

Well downtown Grenada is about 8 Minutes from this crossing, and people said they could hear it from that far. I read a article once too, and the guy who wrote it lived in Grenada for years. He said he would hear it always day and night, sometimes will also awake him. He also said he would head down after school on his bike to watch the signal activate and see trains go by! What a treat that must have been!

Depends on how loud the sound was they were hearing. When the automated horn systems were still in use in Ames, I could hear them going off downtown from the place I had previously worked at.
That was in the mornings when I arrived for work. As the area grew nosier during the day, not so much. Wasn't tough to hear later on in the evenings either.

SirKrunch wrote:Depends on how loud the sound was they were hearing. When the automated horn systems were still in use in Ames, I could hear them going off downtown from the place I had previously worked at.

Map.jpg

That was in the mornings when I arrived for work. As the area grew nosier during the day, not so much. Wasn't tough to hear later on in the evenings either.

Is this the BNSF By any chance?

NSrailfan4life wrote:

SirKrunch wrote:Depends on how loud the sound was they were hearing. When the automated horn systems were still in use in Ames, I could hear them going off downtown from the place I had previously worked at.

Map.jpg

That was in the mornings when I arrived for work. As the area grew nosier during the day, not so much. Wasn't tough to hear later on in the evenings either.

Is this the BNSF By any chance?

Nope, it's the UPRR.

ZachL wrote:

NSrailfan4life wrote:

SirKrunch wrote:Depends on how loud the sound was they were hearing. When the automated horn systems were still in use in Ames, I could hear them going off downtown from the place I had previously worked at.

Map.jpg

That was in the mornings when I arrived for work. As the area grew nosier during the day, not so much. Wasn't tough to hear later on in the evenings either.

Is this the BNSF By any chance?

Nope, it's the UPRR.

Even better, In my opinion the UP is the best in the west!

NSrailfan4life wrote:As I promised. Here is a colored photograph of this thing in action. The photograph came in the mail today.

Notice the lights not flashing, but just the signs are on! And the E8A is kind of blurred, sorry about that.

You wouldn't mind if I reuploaded and used this photo, would you? I'll give you credit and put your name on the bottom of the photo.

I can't say the same about UP. I've grown tired of the way they let their branch lines go to crap here, triple their rates, and force the shippers to either transload off a mainline or go to shipping by truck and then abandon the lines.
Never takes UP long to rip up rail here. That's for sure. Doesn't help that most people in Iowa government have a giant hard-on for the rail to trail movement.

That's too bad. There are a couple of UP branches in Wisconsin that I've been surprised to see hang on as long as they have.

In the photo of the Billups Neon signal, it strikes me just how well Iowa Pacific nailed their duplication of the IC passenger scheme on their E8s.

BUMP I know, but I have some more info on this signal.

First off, the assumption that the 8" lights weren't on was true. The lights were added on a couple of years after the cantilever went up. They would activate only when the main signal wasn't working. The neon letters were either red or pink and the dashes in between the words lit up in blue.

When the signal activated, the STOP would flash on and off and the siren would be a continuous blast. Towards the end of the signal's usage, the siren (an American Signal siren) would remain on after the signal shut down. Also, the neons began to be unreadable and were burning out. I believe only a few still lit up. The signal also became very dirty and un useful towards the end of it's run. The siren malfunctioning wasn't the issue, it was the relays. The relays were neon flasher relays which weren't intended to be out in the environment they were in. This would cause the words to stay lit towards the end of it's run as well.


Nonetheless, this signal was unique, but too advanced for it's time.

Nice info man. Please tell more if you find out something else. Also you may share my photo. Remember I did not take it, so it actually does not belong to me.